Nonoy’s Valentine in August

While it is a fact that love knows no season, August is not traditionally known as a time for entertainers to wax romantic in their shows. They usually save that for the Valentine binge in February. Not Nonoy Zuñiga. One of the country’s foremost balladeers, Nonoy has made a successful career singing love songs for over 20 years and he promises to sing a lot of them in The Love Concert, which will be held at the Music Museum in Greenhills, San Juan on Saturday, Aug. 7 at 8 p.m.

The show was inspired by the success of Nonoy’s latest release, The Love Album. It is made up of some of the world’s favorite love songs ranging from old standards like The Way You Look Tonight, I Only Have Eyes for You and I’ll Be Seeing You to more recent hits like Moon River, What Matters Most, If, Too Shy to Say and In My Life.

I grant that aside from the original versions, these songs have been recorded a lot of times over by many of the finest vocalists we have ever known. Still it cannot be denied that the combination of these melodies with a distinctive singing voice continues to work romantic magic and Nonoy is the latest to enjoy the privilege.

Nonoy will make August a Valentine month by singing those songs. Of course, so as not to disappoint his followers, Nonoy will also perform his early hits like Kumusta Ka, Init Sa Magdamag, Doon Lang, Never Ever Say Goodbye, plus some surprise numbers.

Set to join Nonoy in the concert are Rachelle Ann Go and Side A soloist Joey Generoso, plus other surprise guests. Tickets to The Love Concert are available at all Ticketworld outlets at the National Bookstore and at the Music Museum. Tickets are priced at P1,500 and P900.

Stolen musical works

Sad news: The old house of the father of famous composer and arranger Ryan Cayabyab was broken into by unidentified men last Thursday. The thieves made off with a lot of items and a big part of the loot were printed copies of Ryan’s works. Taken were 1,000 copies of Misa, several hundred copies of Mi Ultimo Adios, a cappella arrangements of Da Coconut Nut, Kahit Ika’y Panaginip Lang, Tunay Na Ligaya, Paraisong Parisukat, copies of Pahilaga and Toccata for Piano, plus other titles.

Those pieces may seem like mere printed paper to the layman but the truth is they constitute a musician’s lifeblood and will cost a fortune to reconstruct. And that does not include the sentimental value attached to each which must be tremendous. So if you see those titles mentioned being sold in music outlets, please inform Ryan or the authorities. Those are stolen properties.

Kapampangan CDs

From the mailbag: To Mr. B.AL. Hernandez of 9580 Jaime Street, Airport Village (Baltao) Barangay Vitalez, Parañaque City. Thank you for taking the trouble to write your kind letter regarding my piece on the Kapampangan CDs, Kapampangan Ku and Pamanuli performed by the Arti Sta. Rita Choir. Mr. Hernandez’s late wife was from Sta. Rita and reading about the albums brought back a lot of memories not only of the music but also of her culinary expertise.

Incidentally, the Kapampangan CDs also brought in a lot of feedback from our readers. It got more calls and more mails than any of the rock albums I keep writing about ever got. And the great thing about it is that most of them wanted to find out where they can get copies of the albums. They want to buy! This is proof that there is indeed a lot of interest in native music and all it takes to fire up the market is for somebody to take the initiative to produce them.

To all those who asked, producer Andy Alviz says the CDs are now available at Ayala Museum, the Cultural Center of the Philippines gift shop, Cabalen Restaurant, Ebun Restaurant and Mangan Restaurant in Metro Manila and Video City, Pampanga’s Best, RWFM, Holy Angel University, Angeles Museum, Info Max, Partyland, Total Gas Station in Guagua and La Moderna in Pampanga.

This warm reaction reminded me of a quote I came across in an ad in Billboard Magazine sometime ago. Sad to say, there was no mention of where it was from or who said it, but I think it gives the best reason why despite these difficult times people still allow themselves to be enslaved by the music.

"Music is one of God’s best gifts to man. The only art of heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to heaven."